While more angry Scots took to the streets protesting about the obvious rigging of the Scottish Independence referendum, Whitehall mandarins proposed a unique bonding opportunity to help repair damaged relations between Scottish citizens and Westminster politicians - a cultural exchange program. Residents from a chosen facility in Scotland would swap with their English 'compatriots', in a symbolic gesture aimed at strengthening the Union.

However, seriously underestimating contempt towards them, instead of choosing comfortable surroundings for the month long program - say, a famous institution like St Andrews University - the preferred venue, overwhelmingly supported by an independent online poll, was Edinburgh Zoo.

Warning: Do not feed the animals

As the PR disaster unfolded, one independent observer captured the prevailing sentiment, stating: "It is obviously ridiculous that the exchange program can proceed now. Moving such dangerous, predatory animals from their familiar surroundings would be completely irresponsible. And the same can be said for the residents of Edinburgh Zoo."

If you've read the Bible, then you've probably come across the phrase "gird up your loins." I've always thought it was a funny turn of phrase. Loins....heh.

Back in the days of the ancient Near East, both men and women wore flowing tunics. Around the tunic, they'd wear a belt or girdle. While tunics were comfortable and breezy, the hem of the tunic would often get in the way when a man was fighting or performing hard labor. So when ancient Hebrew men had to battle the Philistines, the men would lift the hem of their tunic up and tuck it into their girdle or tie it in a knot to keep it off the ground. The effect basically created a pair of shorts that provided more freedom of movement. Thus to tell someone to "gird up their loins" was to tell them to get ready for hard work or battle. It was the ancient way of saying "man up!"

While I've had a vague notion of what it meant to gird up your loins, I've always been curious how exactly you do it. So we did some sleuthing and found these instructions on the Historyzine Podcast and turned it into an illustrated guide for your enjoyment and edification. In case tunics ever come back in style, you'll now know how to gird up your loins and get ready for action.

In light of Congress' turn toward the "childish and cynical," Daily Show host Jon Stewart said on Tuesday, the classic Schoolhouse Rock song "I'm Just A Bill" needed an update.

"I'm just holding my d*ck as I sit here and wait, while these fat motherf*ckers hold a phony debate," the titular Bill laments in the new version. "I can't take it anymore, I'm done, I'll buy a gun and my brains I will spill on the steps of Capital Hill."

Stewart pointed out that, instead of actually trying to pass legislation, Republicans and Democrats are locked in a game of one-upmanship: Democrats will advance hopeless proposals in order to use the bills as fodder for election attack ads against the GOP, while Republicans run out the clock on the legislative calendar so that they can avoid voting on "volatile" issues before the elections.

Comment: Jon Stewart produces some of the hardest hitting journalism, and gets away with it because it's 'comedy'.

A political cartoon published in Wednesday's Boston Herald is being criticized for its use of racist stereotypes, Mashable reports.

The cartoon, by Jerry Holbert, referenced the incident in which Omar Gonzalez, an Army veteran, scaled the White House fence and overpowered a Secret Service agent in order to gain access to the White House - as well as the Secret Service's later admission that, as Holbert put it, the "White House invader got farther than originally thought."

In the cartoon, a man is seen bathing in President Barack Obama's bathtub, and he asks the president whether he's tried "watermelon-flavored toothpaste." Herald readers who saw the cartoon were quick to complain: